Business Briefs

The weighted index fell 10.89 points to 4,521.47 on turnover of NT$60.76 billion (US$1.84 billion). Gainers led losers by 828 to 651 with 278 stocks unchanged.

Mega International Investment Service (兆豐國際投顧) trader Stanley Chou said local shares closed down on “selling pressure tracking the January futures,” which is typically a key indicator for the spot market.

MiTAC wraps up Magellan unit

MiTAC International Corp (神達電腦) yesterday announced the completion of its purchase of Magellan Navigation Inc’s consumer product division.

“With this purchase, MiTAC International will enhance its mobile navigation business and position our company for growth in North America,” MiTAC president Billy Ho (何繼武) said in a statement.

MiTAC said the acquisition was a direct purchase of the assets of Magellan’s consumer product division, which includes brand name, navigation software, patents, trademarks, intellectual properties and sales distribution.

The newly formed MiTAC Digital Corp (MDC) will be based in Santa Clara, California.

Going forward, MDC will operate both the Mio and Magellan brands independently in North America, while sharing technological expertise, the company said.

Toshiba in talks with Fujitsu

Japanese high-tech giant Toshiba Corp is in talks to buy rival Fujitsu Ltd’s loss-making hard disk drive business, a company spokesman said yesterday.

If they reach a deal, Toshiba would become the world’s largest supplier of small hard disk drives, which are seeing growing demand for use in laptops, video recorders and car navigation systems.

“It is true that we are holding talks with Fujitsu on purchasing its hard disk business,” Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said, adding that nothing had been decided yet.

A Fujitsu spokesman said the company was talking with several companies about its hard disk business.

CPC to reopen No. 4 cracker

CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) plans to restart its No. 4 naphtha-processing plant in Kaohsiung next month after market demand for ethylene improves, a company official said.

The naphtha cracker, shut on Oct. 11 for scheduled repairs, will resume production on Feb. 2 or Feb. 3, said a CPC official, who declined to be identified because of company policy.

Vietnamese workers strike

More than 800 workers at a Taiwanese garment factory in southern Vietnam have gone on strike to protest at a delay in the payment of their salaries and Lunar New Year bonuses, a state-run newspaper reported yesterday.

The company, Chin Phong Vietnam, had delayed last month’s salary payments, agreeing to pay up only after “concerned authorities and agencies” visited the firm after the strike started on Tuesday, Thanh Nien daily reported.

It paid the salaries on Tuesday and said it would pay half of the Tet bonuses by Jan. 20, with the rest due on April 10. But by late Tuesday the strike had not ended because some workers wanted half of their bonus to be paid immediately, the paper said.

NT dollar gains ground

The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US currency on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.007 to close at NT$33.258. A total of US$686 million changed hands during the day’s trading.